“Nuance Communications Inc. (NUAN), the U.S. maker of speech-recognition software, advanced the most in two years in Nasdaq trading on reports that Apple Inc. (AAPL) has held negotiations with the company,” Katie Hoffmann reports for Bloomberg.

“The companies are in talks about an acquisition, or, more likely, a partnership, TechCrunch reported May 6, citing several unidentified sources,” Hoffmann reports. “In November, speculation of a deal between the two surfaced after Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said the company had bought Nuance. He later said he’d made a mistake.”

Hoffmann reports, “Nuance’s software could become part of the operating system that runs Apple’s devices such as the iPhone, TechCrunch said. Apple, which also makes the iPad, bought mobile-application developer Siri Inc. a year ago, gaining technology that lets users search the Web by talking to their phones. Siri has used Nuance’s speech recognition software for more than a year.”

Read more in the full article here.

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